16. Department of the Interior · Major · Needs Congress
Amend OCSLA to replace five-year plans with rolling lease sales
Printed page 523 16. Department of the Interior
“Develop immediately and finalize a new five-year plan, while working with Congress to reform the OCSLA by eliminating five-year plans in favor of rolling or quarterly lease sales.”
What has happened
- Partially done
BOEM published the Draft Proposed Program for the 11th National OCS Program (Secretary's Order 3445, Unleashing American Offshore Energy, 2025-11-14, had directed it), with calls for nominations for California program areas following on 2026-01-27. The new five-year plan is in preparation, not final; OCSLA's five-year-plan requirement remains law.
- Partially done
Public Law 119-21 §50102 requires at least 30 region-wide Gulf of America lease sales on a fixed schedule through 2040 and six Cook Inlet sales, 'notwithstanding' the 2024–2029 program and any successor that does not satisfy the section — a statutory rolling sale schedule that bypasses the five-year plan without repealing OCSLA §18. BOEM's 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act Lease Sale 1' notice followed on 2025-11-10.
- Attempted
BOEM opened preparation of the 11th National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program with a request for information, the first step toward the new five-year plan the Mandate asks for (SO 3418 §4 had listed the 2024–2029 program for review). Nothing was yet before Congress.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- No bill titled as an OCSLA five-year-plan repeal is among the 119th-Congress bills we keep and search, from congress.gov (a title search for “Outer Continental Shelf” found H.R. 408, nullifying withdrawals, and S. 5378, the Lease Restoration Act of 2026 — both introduced only). A Federal Register full-text search of presidential documents since 2025-01-20 for “Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act” “five-year” amend: 0 documents.
- The proposed final 11th Program and its approval were not found among the federal records we keep and search as of 2026-08-26; its approval would complete the executive half of the ask.
- Partial was confirmed on review. This ask needs an act of Congress, and Congress enacted part of it: P.L. 119-21 §50102 puts a rolling schedule of lease sales into statute and makes it operate “notwithstanding” the five-year program. For an ask that needs Congress, enacted in part is partial. It is not done because OCSLA §18’s five-year-plan requirement is still law and BOEM is still preparing an 11th five-year program under it.
- Action
- eliminate
- Object
- Five-year plan requirement of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
- ID
- 1466